


coniunctum

by ainglieur



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, a lot of AUs at once rip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27504262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainglieur/pseuds/ainglieur
Summary: Takumi, a magic school student who has never successfully performed a spell in his life, unwittingly summons a demon. This demon, Leo, finds out he can no longer get himself back to the demon world. Leo decides to offer his magical energy to Takumi in exchange for the latter figuring out how to get him home. Takumi just might pass the semester after all, if he can survive having a demon for a roommate.
Relationships: Leon | Leo/Takumi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	coniunctum

It was way past Takumi’s bedtime. He groaned and scratched his head, unable to make his stupid pencil float like it’s supposed to. He couldn’t get it to budge at all. The Levitation exam was today and he couldn't perform the most basic spell they were expected to know. 

Takumi managed to break the tip of the pencil while he attempted every which way to get it to move. He rummaged through his drawer to find a pencil sharpener, and his eyes fell upon an old piece of jewelry stuck in there. It was a bracelet from a family member, given to him at his high school graduation as a good luck charm. The bracelet had a gaudy design so he didn’t wear it but kept it in his desk in case family members came to visit. 

He held the bracelet in his hands, holding it up in a mock prayer. “If there’s someone out there listening to me, please grant me the power to graduate from this magic school,” he murmured. The metal loop did nothing. He sighed, leaning back in his chair. Takumi wasn’t expecting anything, but he was getting a little desperate. 

There was a faint hissing behind him, like a kettle almost to boil. He turned around right before a big burst of flame appeared in front of his eyes, causing him to jump out of his chair and scramble backwards. His knee caught on his bed frame and he toppled to the ground. The blinding light from the flames had died down and Takumi took a peek behind him. There was a person there now, floating a few feet off the ground, wearing a tight black outfit decorated with jewels near the collar. He had pale short hair, with a diamond shaped headband with black horns on it that stood on top of his head. Takumi blinked. The horns weren’t actually connected to the headband at all. This guy had a tail too, dark and thin, ending at a sharp tip that swayed more realistically than an accessory should. This person was undoubtedly a demon, Takumi realized. 

“So you’re the one who summoned me,” the demon said, casting a glance at Takumi. His voice was surprisingly pleasant, unlike the distorted screeching that Takumi expected from demons. 

“You’re… a demon? I thought I would have summoned a fairy or something… I mean, the wish was so minor." Takumi remarked. His voice was shaky and his palms were sweating but he stood up straight and looked the demon in the eye.

"That's why you shouldn't be messing with dark magic, you could always get stuck with a demon," the demon said with a smirk.

Takumi sputtered. "I didn't even know it was magic. I was given this thing as a good luck charm. I hardly have any capacity for magic."

"What in hell are you doing at a magic school then?" The demon clicked his tongue in exasperation.

Takumi came to this school to follow in his siblings’ footsteps, who also didn’t have that much experience with magic. Takumi himself seemed to be particularly inept, because his older brother and sister somehow managed to graduate, and he was on a fast track to flunking his first exams and getting expelled. None of this was something he would tell a demon, though. 

"Th-That's none of your business. And if I can’t do magic then how did I manage to summon you?” Takumi countered.

The demon placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully, crossing his legs in mid air. “Your ‘good luck charm’ once belonged to me. I don’t know how your family obtained it but it has enough of my magical energy stored in it that it could make up for your lack of it. Probably.” 

“Oh… That makes sense,” Takumi mumbled. It wasn’t like he was going to somehow awaken dormant power lying in him. That kind of thing only happened in movies. 

“Well then, what was it you wanted again? You wanted to pass your magic exams was it?” The demon clasped his hands together. 

“Yeah…" Takumi hung his head in shame. It was embarrassing to hear it from someone else’s lips. 

“Hm. Is that all? You’ll be giving away your soul for this. I can tack on an assassination or two while I’m at it.”

“My soul?! No way then! I’m never giving up my soul!” Takumi shouted, his heart sinking.

“That’s too bad. Souls are the most valued currency in the demon world. I just won’t work without it,” the demon drawled. He didn’t seem particularly invested in this whole ordeal. 

“Then go find some loser who’ll fall for your tricks!” Takumi yelled, stepping backwards towards the wall. 

The demon frowned. “Very well. I won’t say it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” 

“Nothing would make me happier than to see you gone.” 

The demon floated down, landing his feet on the ground and flicking his tail once. He flicked his tail again. Takumi glared at him.

“Hello? Didn’t we already go through our heartfelt goodbyes?” he spat.

“Ugh… I can’t seem to leave,” the demon muttered.

“What do you mean you can’t leave?! You can just go out through there!” Takumi shouted, pointing at the door.

“No, you idiot! I can’t seem to open the portal back to my world.” The demon pinched the bridge of his nose.

Takumi furrowed his brows. “You’ll just… figure that out right?” He hated how small and confused he sounded tonight.

“How am I supposed to do that? You summoned me accidentally so I don’t even know the mechanism behind how I got here in the first place. This is all _your_ fault,” the demon hissed. 

“How is it my fault? I wasn’t the one who stored magical energy in a bracelet and then lost the damn thing,” Takumi countered, his voice raising again. 

“Well I can’t do anything about it! I didn’t summon myself here. Summon another demon, get them to take me back home.” The demon’s tail flicked back and forth in agitation. Takumi thought if he had cat ears they’d be flat against his head. 

He shook his head. “I have no magic remember?” 

The demon’s eyes widened. “How about this? I give you some of my magical energy and you help me figure out a way to get me back to the demon world. This situation benefits the both of us. Since you summoned me, I likely need your cooperation to banish me.” He sighed, suddenly looking very tired.

Takumi hesitated. His soul wasn’t mentioned, and overall the deal benefited him more than the demon. “Okay…” he finally agreed.

“Let’s formalize this then. I am the demon Leo, ever at your service.” the demon Leo put a hand on his chest and bowed. 

“R-right… My name is Takumi and I...” Takumi paused. What was he supposed to say here? “How are you going to give me your magic anyway?” 

Leo gave him an irritated look. “The easiest way for now… Well it’s going to be rather invasive. I’m going to have to put my tongue in your mouth,” he explained.

"Tongue in my-?! You couldn't just say kiss?" Takumi yelped, smacking a hand over his mouth as if he could protect it that way. 

"Well no, it's not really a kiss, the tongue is the important part. If I had a long frog's tongue I would only need the tongue in you and it wouldn't be anything like a kiss at all. It's imperative to be concise when explaining contracts to one's vic- contractors." Leo waved his hand around dismissively. 

"What are you even saying? You have a normal tongue though right? Right?" Takumi pleaded. 

"Yes. Well it’s of a similar physical specification as yours, in any case. So what do you say, shall we do it now?" 

“Nope! No way! Not now or ever!” Takumi held his arms out crossed in front of his face.

The demon stepped forward and grabbed Takumi’s face with one cold hand. His nails dug into Takumi’s skin and he pulled forward. “Listen here, I want to go home, you want me gone. I also happen to want to do it as soon as possible. Stop being such a baby about this,” he hissed. 

“Ffine! Jusht do it! Make it quick,” Takumi grumbled. As soon as he said it the demon’s lips were on his. They were cold, and made him flinch. Soon Leo’s tongue flicked against his lips and Takumi shut his eyes tight before parting his lips. 

His first thought was that the demon’s tongue was warm. It slid against his own, entwining them, and it felt so wet and sloppy. Takumi instinctively wanted to back away, but when Leo’s other hand made its way to his face to tilt his head, he complied. The heat was probably from the magic passing between them, but it was making him dizzy. After what felt like eternity, the demon’s tongue darted out and he stepped back, removing his hands from Takumi’s face. 

“Th-that was my first kiss,” Takumi stated shakily, sinking into his bed and putting his face in his hands. Despite the lack of passion behind their locking of lips, his heart still raced and his breaths were ragged. 

“Typical humans. You all care so much about insignificant firsts. That was hardly qualified as a kiss anyway.” Leo shook his head haughtily.

"I don't want to know what it is that you _do_ consider a kiss." Takumi shuddered. “You’re not going to have to do that again, right?” He frantically wiped at his lips and he considered leaving for a few seconds to gargle mouthwash. 

The demon smirked at him. “I’m going to figure out a different way to transfer magic to you, but what I gave you should be enough for at least a couple of weeks,” he said. 

“It better be,” Takumi grumbled. 

“Enough whining. Try it out,” Leo said, gesturing to the pencil on Takumi’s desk. 

Takumi almost forgot. He moved back to his desk and said the incantation. The pencil wobbled before it lifted off from the table entirely, stopping several inches away from the surface. 

“It’s really working,” Takumi breathed. He used his fingers to guide the pencil through the air, making it do loops and flips. It almost slammed against the wall.

“As it should,” Leo huffed. 

“Right.” The magic student wasn’t sure if he should thank the demon. He was only doing what the two of them had agreed upon. 

The pencil collided with his bookshelf and clattered on the floor. As he picked it up, Takumi saw the moon shining brightly between his drawn curtains. He yawned loudly. The demon threat was somewhat out of the way, but his exam still loomed over him. 

“You don’t need to sleep anytime soon do you?” he asked Leo.

“I don’t need sleep at all, human,” Leo responded. 

“I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t know what you’ll do for the rest of the night, but I’m going to bed now,” Takumi mumbled, crawling into bed. For a brief moment he thought that he should be more cautious about the demon being so close while he slept, but it wasn’t worth getting out of bed now. 

That night Takumi had a strange dream. He was in a land of fire and sharp black buildings that towered over the landscape. There was an old man, with large horns sticking out of his forehead and curving upwards. He stood on a platform over a group of other people, all of them with dark horns adorning their heads. The strange patterned headband and neatly trimmed hair on one of them was familiar. It was Leo. The group of demons had their heads bowed as the old man bellowed at them about how they were losing their foothold in demon society. It seemed like such a strange thing for demons to care about that it was almost comical, but when the old man singled out someone in the crowd, the look of terror on their face was serious. There was a chirping sound in the distance. Oh, that was Takumi’s alarm.

Takumi slammed the snooze button on the clock and sat up. He didn’t recognize any of the other people in that dream. But there was a feeling growing at the pit of his stomach that the contents of the dream weren’t just the ramblings of an unconscious mind. He wondered if it was possibly a memory of Leo’s. 

\----------

Leo sighed, watching Takumi from the rafter of the dorm room. It would be so easy to take the soul of this human, he fell asleep without putting any anti-demon countermeasures around his bed. Even now he was scrambling around his dorm as if being late for class was somehow scarier than the actual demon in his room. Humans under contracts with demons were under no danger of being killed by their demons, but taking Takumi’s soul wasn’t exactly _killing_ him.

“What are you going to do while I’m in class?” Takumi said, looking up at him. His bag was slung over his shoulders and his hair tied into a high ponytail. Leo noticed when his hair was down that there was a section of shorter hair on his head, and when tied up it stuck out from the top of his ponytail. Curious.

He sighed again. Soulless humans were sometimes less efficient than ones with souls, and he couldn’t gamble with whichever type Takumi might fall under. He wouldn’t risk ruining possibly the only key to getting him back home.

“I think I’ll go to class too. I’ll go enroll myself,” he said, hopping down from the rafters. Before Takumi could object to the idea, Leo’s horns and tail disappeared and his appearance took on more lively features. “I’ll just pretend to be a human.” 

Takumi stared at him with his mouth agape. Leo brushed past him and made his way out of the room. He had no idea where the admissions office was, but had a feeling that his human companion wouldn’t tell him. 

When he stepped out he cast a spell that changed his outfit too. Humans of this time period dressed in such drab attire, but he still needed to blend in. Leo concocted several fake human identities for himself over the years for various different contracts, but his goal now was mainly to pass the time so he was severely unprepared. There were usually documents that needed to be submitted before being allowed into a school, but since Leo had no resources and couldn’t maintain a connection to the demon world to summon his forgeries he was going to have to take a more forceful approach. He left the dorm building and asked a passing student for directions to the admissions office. 

The campus was huge, and it took the poor student a few minutes to explain to Leo where to go. This was one of the older human magic schools, built on the top of a hill, buildings constructed from mixed stone supported by iron buttresses. They boasted dark trim, steep gable roofs, and lush green vines that cascaded down the buildings, clinging to the columns and brackets. Some of them had crenellated parapets, a relic of when the school lent its support to war. The campus appeared to have a new building added to it since Leo had last visited, built in a similar style as the older buildings but without the elegant vines creeping down its facade yet. The building had signs of wear and tear nonetheless, so it was probably built quite some time ago. 

The last time Leo had visited this particular school must have been a few hundred human years ago, a contract where he was tasked to assassinate the headmaster of the time. He thought it funny that he was never called on since. College students of the modern era must have found other stupid things to do and weren't particularly keen on demon summoning anymore.

Leo located the admissions building, ascended the flights of stairs (magic schools loved their stairs), and walked down the hall past the offices. A bell tinkled faintly as Leo opened the door to one of them.

“Good morning, how may I help you?” a short woman with her hair up in a bun greeted Leo from the counter. The admissions office smelled faintly of magic herbs that irritated the demon’s eyes. 

“Good morning. My name is Leo, and I submitted an application to enroll in this school last week,” Leo said, his eyes narrowing. He kept his gaze fixed on her, waiting for a chance to implant false memories. 

The woman looked at him suspiciously, but then her eyes glazed over. “Oh yes, of course, I remember you. It seems I must have misplaced your paperwork,” she said flatly. For a magic school, the people here were easy to brainwash with demonic powers.

“That’s not true at all,” Leo insisted, smiling. “It must be with the other first years.”

“Oh you’re right. It’s right here. This is your class schedule, the teachers should know about your transfer to their classes.” She pushed a piece of parchment towards him. The teachers, of course, didn’t know at all. Leo was just going to have to work this kind of magic on all of them. The piece of parchment he received was actually the schedule for a first year named “Eris Little” but it was good enough for him. He considered transferring to all of Takumi’s classes, but having some time away from such a loud and childish human was a better idea. 

\-----

If Leo had managed to enroll or not, at least he wasn’t in any of Takumi’s classes. That was until Takumi was seated comfortably in his Illusions class and saw the familiar prim hair held in place with a headband walk into his lecture hall and sit several rows in front of him. 

“Human” Leo looked like he was injected with more color, his hair was blond, his skin a warm tone. The long fangs he had in demon form were shorter now too. He had changed out of his tight black outfit with the jewels and opted for a casual one with a button up shirt and sweater vest. Takumi didn’t want to know when he changed or whose clothes he was wearing (at least they weren’t his). Seeing him like this creeped Takumi out more than the sharp horns and tail did. 

That day’s lesson was to transfer a mental image onto a plain paper fan. It was one of the most basic of illusions because it didn’t require the shape of the fan to change, but it required steady focus and concentration for the duration of the image transfer. Takumi decided he was going to use the cherry blossom pattern that was on the fabric room divider his little sister owned. The professor told the class that it was easier to start off with simple patterns like checkerboard and polka dots but Takumi wanted to make up for his poor performance in the past month. 

He recited the spell, and the fan floated upwards directly in front of him. Takumi stared at it, willing the small pink petals to appear on the paper. He almost sighed in relief when he saw the design slowly fade onto the paper, starting from the top and moving its way down like a digital printer. The pattern wasn’t perfect, because Takumi couldn’t quite remember if there were branches of cherry blossom trees or not, but it still looked good. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Leo changing his fan pattern instantly, alternating between exceedingly complicated patterns. The students seated around him were clapping in excitement as Leo was able to transfer whatever design they requested, including a pattern of popular mascot character Fururu Cat. Leo clearly had no business being in a beginner class like this except to show off like that, Takumi thought bitterly. 

“Ouch.” Takumi’s fan smacked him in the face. It fell onto the table and Takumi realized in horror that the pattern was distorted at the very bottom of the fan. He groaned. It was completely his fault this time, he let himself get distracted by the demon seated a few rows ahead. 

“Dude, what are you getting all distracted for?” the guy next to him commented. He was finished with his own fan and eyeing Takumi’s with concern. They rarely talked, except to complain about homework assignments every once in a while. 

“It’s the new guy. I thought it was too late to transfer to this class,” Takumi said. 

“Well it doesn’t seem like he’s going to fall behind the rest of us anytime soon,” his classmate mused. Leo stopped casting spells and his final submission was a fan with the image of a famous painting of water lilies that Takumi vaguely recognized. It was annoyingly impressive. 

“Show off,” Takumi muttered.

“Totally,” his classmate agreed. 

\--------

After Illusions, Takumi booked it back to his dorm. He didn’t want to talk to Leo while his classmates were around. When he got back he sank into bed and rested until the dining hall opened. Leo was nowhere to be seen on the way to and from the dining hall, so Takumi wondered if he’d found someplace else to spend his time. 

Takumi was in the middle of reading up on a book he started last week when the door creaked behind him, and he turned to see Leo entering his room. 

“Wait. What are you doing here? You’re a student now so don’t you get your own dorm?” he demanded.

“I didn’t arrange a dorm for myself. Anyway, I’d prefer to keep a close eye on you.” Leo shrugged

“What am I even going to do if you’re not around?” Takumi groaned, shaking his head in exasperation. 

“It’s what you’re _not_ going to do. Our deal means that you’re required to find out how to get me back home. Which is why we’re going to the library,” Leo said, a hand on his hip. Takumi almost forgot about his part of the deal. 

“I have homework to do,” Takumi blurted.

“The sentence ‘I have homework’ doesn’t excuse you from going to the _library_ I think.” Leo tipped Takumi’s chair backwards to look him in the eyes. “I happen to know that you don’t have homework due any time soon.”

“You’re evil,” Takumi mumbled, glaring at the demon above him.

“You wound me,” Leo said in mock indignance. 

“Fine. Let’s go. I’ll get my things,” Takumi said after the demon set his chair back down. He stood up to grab his schoolbag, and turned to Leo before remembering that the demon didn’t have any belongings to take with him. “Do you want to borrow a pen or something, to take notes with?” he asked. 

Leo blinked in surprise at the offer. “Yes, I would, actually.” 

Takumi rummaged through his school supplies for some extra pens and a notebook that didn’t contain anything embarrassing written in it. After handing them over to Leo, he fetched his shoes and the two set out to the library. 

The school library was one of the best parts of campus, it housed thousands of ancient texts and historical writings. Takumi’s siblings often told him about the library and how certain they were that he would love it. And he did. The smell of old paper and stale magic greeted him as soon as he opened the heavy wooden doors. The sight of the near endless shelves of book filled him with a simple and pure joy. The library had numerous chairs and sofas to sit at, a few old computers that barely worked, wooden poles that held daily newspapers in different languages. For decoration, there were dragon skeletons and star globes hanging from the ceiling, arranged to represent the war between dragons that took place thousands of years ago. Paintings of famous mages stared at any passerby. Posters that encouraged reading were taped to the informational desks and above the check out counters.

Takumi led Leo to the southwest corner of the library to find a table to use for their research. He hoped Leo didn’t know much about dragons, because he liked sitting in this corner because it was underneath the replicas of the dawn dragons, which were native to Takumi’s hometown. He didn’t know that much about them, but they looked cool, and that definitely made him look childish. Leo paused to examine the replicas, his face not giving away any emotions. 

“I think we should split our research between demon studies and general summoning techniques, just in case,” Leo finally suggested after Takumi set his belongings down. 

“Alright, I’ll take the demon studies then,” Takumi said. 

Leo’s eyebrow raised and his lips curled into a smirk. “Looking for my weaknesses?”

“No, I just know that you’re going to complain about how humans depict you, so I’m going to spare myself from that,” Takumi replied plainly. Of course, if he _happened_ to find any weaknesses, well that was just a bonus. 

The two split up to look for research material, bringing whatever they found back to their table. Takumi grabbed some other random books to mix in his piles just in case someone happened to pass by and wanted to peek at his reading selection. 

After gathering an assortment of books, he sat down at the table to decide which ones to go through first. If Leo was unable to figure out what was wrong, then the answer was likely something obscure, but Takumi's knowledge of demons was lacking. He pondered going through some demon basics first just in case it could help him make some connections. 

Leo returned with a couple more books which he had arranged into three different piles. He took a seat across from Takumi and picked up a book from the top of the pile to his left before crossing his legs and flipping open the cover. Takumi watched him for a bit, unable to see the book the demon was reading. He sort of wanted to know what Leo decided to start with in case it could help him decide on his own starting point.

Takumi tore his eyes away and opened up what seemed like an almanac on demons that he had pulled from his own pile. Basics. He wanted to know more about demons first.

He skimmed the intro, which talked about the demon world and how it was separate from the human world, which was separate from what humans called hell. There were demons that hailed from different parts of the demon world, and their physical characteristics often varied as a result of their habitats and roles. Some demons worked in Hell, while others could travel to the human world. This section was common knowledge, so Takumi quickly flipped to the first chapter. 

The first chapter of the book was on summoning rituals and it explained that there were different criteria that needed to be met in order to bring specific demons to the human world. At some point it got a little too technical on how people often have their own preferred methodology that results in the same likelihood of the desired demon, and so there was no real reason for so many summoning techniques to exist. It wasn't information that Takumi needed, and the comparison graphs were making his head hurt. 

The rest of the book was on major demon species. Takumi stopped reading to think. It was clear that Leo was a contract demon, but that section had so many names and subsections that Takumi wasn't sure which one Leo fell under. It didn't help that he didn’t really look like any of the example illustrations. 

Takumi cleared his throat. Leo didn't respond, he didn't even look up from his book. 

"Leo," Takumi started, "What kind of demon are you?" he asked, dropping his voice to a whisper. 

Leo gave him a quizzical look. "The evil kind," he finally responded. 

"No, I mean, your species or something. Like what do people call you and your family?" The demon visibly stiffened at this question. 

"I'm a Nohr demon," Leo whispered back. 

Takumi wasn't sure what exactly he said and whether it was Nor or Noir but he flipped to the N section and began skimming the entries. 

Page 759. Nohr Demon. Takumi snorted at the picture on the page. 

"What is it?" 

"Oh nothing," Takumi said, his mouth hurting from holding back a smile. The illustration of the Nohr demon made it look absolutely miserable, with a slumped over, vaguely human-like shape, and shiny eyes that seemed glossy from holding back tears. It had two horns with a similar curvature to Leo’s and were the same color. 

“You are clearly very amused by something,” Leo stated, eyeing Takumi with suspicion, “Let me see that.” He leaned forward to grab for the book, and Takumi quickly pulled the book out of his reach. Leo narrowed his eyes and grabbed for the book again, and Takumi pulled it away again. “Let me see it!” Leo cried, getting out of his seat. He fumbled around Takumi who continued to keep the book out of his reach. 

Leo lost his balance and crashed into Takumi, knocking both of them to the ground, the demon landing on top of the human. Takumi winced at the dull pain at the back of his head before noting Leo’s face pressed up against his chest. 

“Sorry,” the demon said, lifting his head. His face was flushed. But before Takumi could respond to the surprise apology (demons could feel sorry?), Leo yanked the almanac out of his hands. 

He sat up, apparently seeing no problem with the fact that he was still straddling Takumi. “Oh this is a disgrace. We are a proud race of demons. Not- not this snivelling mess,” he grimaced. Takumi clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter, not wanting to make more of a commotion than they already had. Leo’s lips were pulled into a pout as he glared at the illustration, unable to do anything about it because it was library property. 

Takumi pushed Leo off of him and swiped the book back. “Don’t get all upset now, maybe the other illustrations are fine,” he said, biting his lips to hold back his laughter. He knew they wouldn’t be because all the illustrations in the book were terrible, and when he flipped to the monstrosity on the next page he buckled down from laughing.

“This is a waste of my time. Stop fooling around and read the book so I can go home,” Leo huffed, getting up from where Takumi shoved him and returning to his seat at the table. 

“Yes, your Snivelliness,” Takumi teased. Leo glared at him. 

The entry on Nohr demons had very little to say about them. They were a younger line of demon, which made them particularly good at adapting to changes in human society. The common method for summoning them involved a summoning circle, a few drops of human blood, and dust or clay scattered within the circle. It was considerably easy to form contracts with them because it didn’t require knowing their true names. Takumi wondered if Leo was his demon’s true name. It was a kind of plain name.

All in all, Takumi was surprised that Leo hadn’t harmed him yet. Nohr demons were supposedly vicious and unforgiving, with immense magical strength and the ability to take souls without being affiliated with Hell. Souls could be taken without killing the body, and yet Leo hadn’t attempted this at all yet. Or maybe he had? Takumi felt his shoulders tense up, and his mouth pull taut. With Leo in his human form, it completely slipped his mind that the person who was pouting at a silly painting a few minutes ago was also completely capable of causing him a great deal of pain.

\--------

That night, Takumi had another dream about Leo and his demon companions. This time, it was just Leo and a younger looking demon with large pigtails. She almost didn’t look like a demon at all, because her small horns curled inwards towards her face and were mostly hidden by hair. 

_“I don’t want to collect souls! I don’t like being mean!” the younger demon whined._

_“You can’t say something like that. You’re a demon, and a full fledged one now.”_

_“I know, but… But I don’t like it! Why does everything we do have to be so awful! My magic can do so many things but we just get asked to kill, steal, hurt others!”_

_“It’s not our fault that humans ask us to do those things. But it is our job to see that they receive punishment for it. Their souls being taken from them is their punishment,” Leo said patiently._

_The younger demon stuck out her bottom lip and puffed out her cheeks. “Why do we have to punish them! Why can’t we reward the ones that do nice things!”_

_“Shh! What if Father heard you just now? Listen, not every human will ask you for awful things. Some of them are desperate, and just want protection, or just want to improve themselves. As a demon you decide on the appropriate contract for them. Why don’t you handle those ones, okay? You can ask for something else as reward, it doesn’t have to be their soul.” Leo put a hand on her shoulder.The girl’s eyes widened and her face broke out into a big grin._

_“Oh. But what about Father’s soul quota? He was so excited for me to finally be experienced enough to collect souls,” the young demon said sadly, her previous excitement completely gone._

_“Leave that to me okay? I’ll collect enough souls he won’t even notice you aren’t doing anything. Just keep this a secret from everyone. Promise me that,” Leo said, lifting up his pinky._

Takumi awoke with a start. These dreams felt too personal and intrusive, but there was still a possibility they were all just a figment of his imagination right? Maybe the girl demon was just a character from a magical girl anime that his sister watched and he happened to include in his demon world dreams. 

But as much as he reasoned with himself he couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach. If that girl was real and as important to Leo as she seemed, then the time Leo wasted trying to get home was time he wasn’t spending on collecting souls. And it sounded like he had a number he needed to reach.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you imagine being me and thinking I could get this out by Halloween? Anyway, thanks for reading and also I'm sorry that I'm like this. The setting is largely based on a shoujo manga because that's the kind of year I'm having.


End file.
